Does anyone wear the pod on their calf?
Welcome aboard, Steve! Yes, I just saw the other day that someone does indeed use their calf. Check it out!
http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/omnipodusers/forum/topics/weirdest-place-you-placed-the
Hi Steve…I think it was an Omnipod site that has a picture of a fairly muscular guy with the Pod on his calf.
I do! I’m wearing it on my calf right now actually, the second time using that site.
No, I never wore it on my calf… it’s always on my stomach area. Some day I’ll get the nerve to sell my belly property and move South or West. 
I love this site! You guys are all so amazing! I had trouble sleeping with pod on stomach, have been wearing it on arms all winter, but wondering what to do when i want to go sleeveless in the summer. The calf is a good idea for when you want to wear the long maxi-dresses or halter tops, and the shoulder fat is a great idea for when you want to wear tank tops. I’ll definitely give them both a try this summer and be more adventurous. All winter I’ve been wearing my pods for the full three days, so i have a few to play with if it doesnt feel comfortable. thanks for the tips!
Yes, I agree… everyone here is really “amazing”! A wealth of love and information we can’t get anywhere else. Thank you everyone!
After seeing the pic of someone putting the pod on their calf the other day, I thought I’d give it a try. I’m not sure how it will hold up w/ running, but I am nursing an ankle injury so all I’m doing is mostly swimming and biking at the moment, so why not?
I have a pretty muscular calf (my thighs are pretty muscular as well and have never had great success w/ that as a site) so I was skeptical, but still wanted to at least try it out. I put the canula so that it will hopefully be in between the lateral aspect of the gastrocnemius and the medial aspect of the soleus muscles, right in the ‘groove’ between the two heads…and so far, so good! My numbers are great and have been stable all morning. No pain or site irritation at this point either! So I’m pretty excited Here’s a pic of where I put it:
For some reason this site makes my knees weak just looking at it. lol I’m sure it’s a great site, but just the thought of it makes me feel sick. I guess it’s just a phobia with me. Glad you found another great site to place our OmniPod.
To speak to your phobia, I must say I had the same fear/uneasiness (it’s not just you! ;-). I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough tissue to put the canula in w/o it kinking, and then I was afraid I’d have other issues w/ it even if it did insert fine.
Well just like w/ any other site, there’s a learning curve to it I ripped part of the welding points yesterday mid-day, but since I was having success w/ the site, I actually just fully removed this one and put a new right back in nearly the same exact place. I’ve been having good luck w/ it ever since. I didn’t have any problems sleeping w/ it last night, so I’m pretty happy w/ the results thus far.
Good, I’m glad it works for you. So far, I’m doing very well with my stomach area. I just move it about 1/2 inch away from the last site and then change sides. It’s just the easiest and most convenient place for me. Maybe someday when my stomach screams “No More”, I’ll change it.
I haven’t put a site on my stomach since starting with the pod march 3rd. I’ve come up with creative places. Did you check out the thread for the weirdest place to place it?
Yes, I read all the places. I did have it on my thigh and top of my arm once but they were both uncomfortable for me so back on my stomach it went. I just figure “don’t fix what ain’t broke.”
Ok Bradford…is this really inserted? I checked my legs out and I have no fat, like you in my calfs. Aren’t you in muscle? This is interesting. I do my arm’s most of the time and sometimes the stomach.
I tried this last night with mixed results. It feels fine and is working now, but I’ve had two issues with it.
Issue #1: I put it on around 10pm and bolused half a unit (with a stable blood sugar under 150), but woke up at 3am feeling awful. My BG was 393 mg/dL!!! So either it was just one of those random crappy post-insertion highs that the half unit did nothing for or I was having absorption issues there. Either way, after a bolus and an injection (I do both for good measure), I’ve been fine ever since.
Issue #2: I ripped it half off this morning and had to add extra tape. So here’s the photo.
I’m not quite sure why you also give yourself injections. Do you always do that or just when your BG is way too high. Since I’ve been on the pod I haven’t given myself one injection. If my BG is too high I take a correction with the OmniPod. Just curious.
Melissa…you give injections as well?
I assume a pump isn’t functioning correctly when I’m that high and I use an injection + bolus as a first step before putting on a new pod. There was no reason I should have been near 400. My control is tight, my basals are decent, my A1c is 6.0, and I’m breastfeeding. I had to blame the pod. I wanted to correct the high (injection), put more insulin into the area for better absorption (bolus), return to bed, and then watch my cgm through the day before discarding the pod and replacing it. Since my numbers are good today, I assume it was a post-insertion absorption issue and that the pod is fine now. I didn’t even have any syringes for nearly a decade until recently with my pregnancy. Now that I’ve got them on hand, it’s just a new tool in my arsenal.
If my number is high, I want it down (the sooner I inject a bolus of insulin, the sooner I come down from the high), so I will bolus and inject both–mostly if I’m really high, like 393 for example…
The pod delivers at .05 units per click, so it’s going to take several minutes to get the bolus in…and it always seems to take a long time to get into my system and bring me down. If I do both, I come down much quicker. Also it could be an issue that the site is bad (either poor absorption or the pod is kinked or otherwise not delivering properly). I don’t want to hang out that high for several hours while I check to see if that’s correct or not. So the shot helps me come down quickly and then the bolus helps me decide if the pod is working or not. So while I can’t speak to why Melissa does it, I know that doing both works well for me. Do I have to watch for a low later? Yes. But I’d much rather manage a low than feel like crap being high. But again, that’s just me and my management ‘plan’
Oh, ok… I was just curious and also since you’re breast feeding you have to be extremely careful and keep those numbers as normal as possible.